? Death - John Browne Smith- ?Litchurch

[janan]

So possibly the Ann Smith aged 30 with whom he is living in the 1871 census is not his wife ? Might she be the mother of Amelia?

Might that Ann be his daughter? She's the right age. Baptised at All Hallows Lombard Street in 1841 - not very far from Bishopsgate.

It does say Mar and Wife so if that is his daughter...
Could be a mistake of course.

[ShaunJ]

Could be a mistake of course.

All we have for the censuses prior to 1911 are transcriptions by the enumerators. There are lots of mistakes.

[Barrie Green]

Thank you Shaun J, K Garrard, and Janan, for all your delving and diving to dig up this man's history.

Wow! Now why am I not surprised? Because there have been suspicious events emerging from time to time e.g., his father, JBS Snr., a Soiicitor in Dartmouth, left all his estate to JBS Jnr, overseen by  JBS.Jnr (illegal these days) and the other 9 children were left his affection and love! I need to check again on his probate but that's the way it went. Also the youngest brother William Smith, became Mayor of Dartmouth and at his death brother JBS Jnr (if he was still alive) was not present nor even mentioned among all the family members, dead or alive in the long Obituary!!!

My big mistake was not noticing the age of the Ann in the Census, the first wife was Ann Norah Batten, born 1816 at Leadenhall Market in London, so she would be about the same age as JBS Jnr.
I think the fact that there was a daughter whom none of us here in N.Z. had even heard of threw me!

Also, I had wondered if her headstone in St. Pancras Cemetery also had 'dear hubby' on it! Fat chance! A photo of Ann N Smith was sent to me by a wonderful Office Attendant at the cemetery (after my long 'sob story' about being so far away) but as the wilderness obscured a lot of it  any script was unreadable.

So thanks to you all, I can now start tracing him in Scotland!! I am impressed with the way you were able to dig up his misdeeds, where did you look for that?

Thanks once again to you all for your time and effort - I really appreciate it as now I'm 83, I will not be able to travel to the UK in the future.

Faith

[KGarrad]

For myself, I used a mixture of FamilySearch and Google!

Just one thing?
Probate simply says which people are the executors - it won't mention who is left anything?
That detail is only in the will.

[ShaunJ]

I am impressed with the way you were able to dig up his misdeeds, where did you look for that?

For newspaper reports on JBS look in the newspaper search on FindMyPast or the British Newspaper Archive. There are also a few mentions in the Gale 19th Century Newspapers database which you may be able to view via membership of a participating library.

[ShaunJ]

If any others (like me) are curious as to the identity of the 15 year old "ballet girl" (Mary Sarah Woodrough/Woodruff) in the 1870 case, I think the correct spelling is Woodruff.

The girl was sent to the Streatham reformatory and appears there in the 1871 census as Mary Woodruff aged 16 born East Indies.

There is an 1854 baptism in Bellary, India for Mary Sarah Elizabeth Woodruff, parents Henry and Hellen. Henry was a private in the 3rd European.

Mary married William Roberts Hopcroft in 1874; they were divorced in 1885.

[ShaunJ]

Is this your man?

A death in South Australia,  Feb 10th 1882:

John Brown Smith aged 66.

Came from Victoria. Had a brother William Smith, solicitor, Dartmouth, Devon

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43332972

He died near Penola, death registered in Grey.

A John Brown Smith aged 62 arrived Melbourne from London on the Carlisle Castle in October 1876.

I think the writer in Glasgow must be someone else.

[janan]

Good find Shaun

[Barrie Green]

Thank you both for this fascinating data! I have spent some time today considering all this and at this stage think that perhaps the Australian JBS is the one until proved otherwise.

The 1871 Census shows William Smith in Dartmouth as an Attorney at Law. He did not become Mayor of Dartmouth until 1891 so JBS in those last years would not have referred to him as such.

Maybe JBS, after all his misdeeds decided to escape to Australia to get away from it all. But why Aussie?

But the 2 children of his and Ann Norah Smith (Batten) were by then down in NZ.

Briefly, his son, John Batten Smith (b.1839) had gone as a Medical Orderly to the Crimea and was there when Florence Nightingale opened her first box of drugs. (Family data.) From there he went to Curragh, Ireland for further Medical training, married in London, accepted eventually as Medical Officer to the Natives in NZ (pioneers had brought out infectious diseases, measles etc which was decimating the Maoris) to begin in 1861 in Foxton, Manawatu. His wife, child and sister (Annie Norah Smith) travelled out to NZ together. (Annie N. was my g.grandmother).
Annie N (b. 1841) appeared to have money as she travelled quite a few times to England with her family, one time her daughter was presented at Court with the Colonial Quota!

However, whether the family wanted anything to do with him we don't know. My mother knew nothing of the background of her grandmother - I regret not probing deeper!

So I am very grateful for all the other fascinating data especially about the 'ballet' girl - I was reluctant to ask about her as you have both been so generous with your time. I will order his Death Certificate but do not expect to find anything extra on it.

Grateful thanks for your help.
Faith